SAN DIEGO — San Diego baseball suffered a 5-1 defeat to Cal State Fullerton on Sunday afternoon, dropping the series finale to the Titans as it concluded play in the Tony Gwynn Legacy tournament.
Shane McGuire launched a towering solo home run to right field in the bottom of the first inning, but that would be all the offense the Toreros could muster. They were stymied by Fullerton starter Kyle Luckham, who pitched 7 1/3 innings of one-run ball, allowing only two hits in his 93-pitch outing.
Grady Miller started the game on the mound for USD and pitched a scoreless first inning, but ran into trouble in the following frame. Back-to-back home runs followed by a hit batter, a single, and a walk led to him being lifted midway through the second for
Jack Dolak. Miller's final line: 1.3 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 1 K.
Dolak was able to quell the Titans' rally in relief after getting Fullerton's Jackson Lyon to fly out to center field with the bases loaded, though he would go on to allow three runs later on in his single combined inning of work. The most damaging blow occurred when the sophomore right-hander gave up a bases-loaded double to CSUF's Omar Veloz in the top of the third inning, pushing the score to 5-1 in favor of the Titans.
True freshman
Ivran Romero continued to be excellent out of the bullpen for San Diego, tossing 3 1/3 scoreless frames while allowing just three hits after he took over for Dolak. He has yet to allow a run in 2021 across 6 2/3 total innings pitched.
Romero's performance was followed by three more scoreless efforts by the USD pitching staff.
Kieran Shaw,
Jake Reed, and
Brycen Mautz all pitched an inning apiece, yielding no runs and only one hit in the last three frames of Sunday afternoon's contest.
Camden Vasquez, the hero of Saturday evening's game, entered as a pinch hitter in the bottom of the ninth inning and doubled off the top of the right field wall, but San Diego could not take advantage, falling by a 5-1 margin.
Despite the loss, the series marked a productive weekend for the Toreros as they took two games out of three from the Titans.
USD returns to action Thursday evening, when the team travels to UC San Diego for the first of four games against the Tritons. The series includes two home games, which will take place next Saturday and Sunday (March 6 and 7), both at 1 p.m.
